J. F. Krummnow & Herrnhut

and the Herrnhut Commune, Victoria

1) Krummnow in South Australia
2) In Victoria - founding of Herrnhut commune
3) Hill Plain commune moves to Herrnhut
4) Krummnow's death

Krummnow went to Victoria where he convinced some fellow Germans to give him their money and to go with him to establish a commune called Herrnhut near Hamilton. On 27 May 1853 Krummnow applied for and bought 642 hectares of Crown Land about 24 km south-east of Hamilton for £1584. At first the community lived in buildings made of wood and thatch. A bushfire went through the district in January 1860 and it is believed that those buildings were destroyed and that the bluestone buildings were built then. 12-15 buildings made of bluestone (the walls were about 60 cm thick) arose. Krummnow conducted baptisms and holy communion in the church, which was completed in 1854. The ruins of two of the buildings remain today.Here you can read an article about Herrnhut that appeared in the Argus in 1857.

Herrnhut buildings in 1930 Lodewyckx Collection, University of Melbourne Archives	Foundations of the church
Ruins of Krummnow's house	A window of Krummnow's house

Reliable witnesses reported that Krummnow sometimes punished children and adults very harshly. Children who had done some small thing wrong were locked up in the church for days without food and water.

In the first few years everyone seemed happy to work for no pay in the interest of the commune. The commune produced more than enough lamb, vegetables, butter and milk to support itself and sold wool outside the commune to earn money for the things it needed. At its peak the commune numbered about 50 people. When it became known that Krummnow had registered the land purchased in his own name some people became very angry and demanded their money back, but it appears that they were forced to leave the community without anything. These people threatened court action, but there is no evidence that the issue ever reached the courts. As years passed more people were interested in a life beyond the commune and in earning money outside and numbers shrank.

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Summarised from:
Huf, Betty. 2001. Personal communication.
Lodewyckx, Prof. Dr A. 1932. Die Deutschen in Australien. Ausland und Heimat Verlagsaktiengesellschaft, Stuttgart.
See also:
Meyer, C. 1978. "Two Communes in 19th Century Victoria". In: Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 49, No.4.